-
355
Aristotle
Aristotle in his book The History of Animals compels the fact that spontaneous generation occurs because there is a animating force called pneuma, translated from latin as “soul”. He believed that things arise from non living matter due to a “vital heat” pneuma and other elements that are there to determine what organism it will become. -
Feb 2, 611
Anaximander's Theory of LIfe
Anaximander was a Milesian philosopher in which whom believed that everything arose out of the elemental nature of the universe. He claimed that living creatures were first formed in the “wet” (water) under sunlight, and that humans were first fishes that then developed and matured to independence. -
Spontaneous Generation of Mice
Physician and alchemist Johannes Baptista van Helmont (1579-1644) believed in spontaneous generation, and that a mice could be created when a flask of wheat and old rags was heated within a dark closet. -
Early Modern Views Upon Spontenous Generation
William Harvey(1578-1657) published his De Generatione, in which he mentions that “all [life] from eggs”, rejecting spontaneous generation. -
Redi's Experiment
In 1668, Scientist Francisco Redi disproved spontaneous generation, and reasoned that maggots did not arise from dead meat. He proved that the maggots were in fact, created by eggs that are laid by adult flies. He conducted this experiment by comparing two meat put in separate flasks, one covered with cloth and the other did not. The flask that wasn’t covered developed maggots, whereas the one that was covered did not. -
Needam and Buffon
French Naturalist Buffon and an English Catholic Priest Needham decided to disprove the works of Loui Joblot in 1745 regarding the attack on spontaneous generation. The two conducted an experiment where they boiled broth and to check whether or not it was capable of supporting life. The results were that whether it was sealed or not sealed, boiled or not boiled, life still arose from the broth. -
Spallazani
In 1768, Spallazani, a university professor published his account rebutting Needam’s stance on spontaneous generation. He conducted a similar experiment to Needam’s using broth, however he boiled the broth for long periods of time. His results showed that the time of boiling does matter, as the flask that was boiled the longest had little to no life evident. -
Fermentation
In 1837, German Biologist called Theodore Schwann took on a set of experiments to disprove spontaneous generation as well. His sugar fermentation studies led to his discovery that yeast originated the chemical process of fermentation. -
Felix Archimede Pouchet
Felix Archimede Pouchet, a French Naturalist tried to prove spontaneous generation was real in 1855. The results from his experiment compelled him to believe that atmospheric air is not, and cannot be responsible for microbes. -
Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur and his works directly disproves Pouchet’s experiment and conclusion. Pasteur not only wanted to prove Pouchet wrong, he wanted to prove that spontaneous generation definitively did not exist. In his swan neck experiment, he demonstrated that microorganisms are in the air, and that due to this, the broth thus contains living organisms.
